Our Story

With hard work and dedication the venture blossomed into Bella Luccè. The company transformed founder Lela Barker into quite the little globe-trotter. She chased big contracts, new development opportunities and indigenous beauty ingredients around the world. Lela often found herself captivated by the traditions and people of the places she visited from Mumbai to Athens.

 

However, Lela was completely enchanted when an impromptu visit landed her in the gorgeous, sea side village of Essaouira, Morocco. After a week of exploring the beaches, scouring the souks and making many wonderful friends she reluctantly returned home to the United States, but Lela promised herself to return soon.

 

Unable to quell her Moroccan wanderlust, Lela returned just a few months later. She hired one of her Moroccan friends, Hassane, as a private driver and translator and set off on an adventure to discover the beauty riches of the region. Criss-crossing nearly all of Morocco, Lela explored Rhassoul clay mines in the Atlas Mountains, watched argan nuts ground into oil near Marrakech and learned about botanical essential oil distillation near Khemisset.

 

During the same visit, Lela spent a day with local children in a remote village school in the Moroccan countryside near Taftacht. The two room school house had no library, no computers, no overhead projectors, no smart boards. The school had neither heat nor air conditioning. There were no crayons, no jump ropes, playground equipment, no hot meals. The students, those that can afford the $50 per year tuition, walk or ride the family donkey between two and four kilometers one-way to reach the school.

 

The teachers leave their homes and families during the week and travel to the rural area to aid in the development of these children, sharing the most basic living quarters. On less than $400 per month, the teachers must provide for their transportation to and from the school, their food while at the school, and all of their family expenses at home. The “teacher house” has no heat, no air conditioning, no refrigerator, no computer, no running water, no stove, no cabinetry. Their one ‘modern’ comfort is one TV that looks if it was made in the 1960s.

 

The tenacity and commitment to learning of the 156 students and their dedicated teachers left an indelible impression on the American. Lela planned for her company, Bella Luccè, to adopt the Moroccan school. However, she soon realized there was more work to be done than her small beauty company could tackle alone.

 

Lela returned home to her family and business determined to stay somehow connected to Morocco. She brought as much of Morocco as she could carry in her luggage home to share with friends and family—gorgeous Berber blankets, hammered silver earrings and embossed leather poufs.

 

Amidst the “ooh’s” and “aah’s”, a flood of people slipped in “bring-me-back” requests for her next trip. Always a people pleaser, Lela attempted to fill the requests immediately. Yet the online prices for the Moroccan goodies she’d just purchased so reasonably left her gobsmacked. 

 

Yet, with the sticker shock, came inspiration:

 

What if Lela could employ Hassane to shop for the most exquisite Moroccan luxuries, pay the artisans well for their work, ship the goods stateside and sell it at reasonable prices? Most importantly, what if all the profits could be returned to the Moroccan people to help them with the basics so many take for granted such as clean water, education and health care?

 

Lela immediately phoned Hassane, her plans tumbling out with wild enthusiasm. Hassane simply and humbly replied “Alhamdulillah” (thanks be to God).

 

And so it began…

 

“We must be the change that we wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi